CoverGirl Gets Olympics-Ready with Two Fresh New Faces

Sofia and Taylor have some competition: there are two new CoverGirls in town. In anticipation of the 2012 London Olympics, the beauty brand just signed two athletes who’ll be at the big games: boxer Marlen Esparza and beach volleyball player Jennifer Kessy.

“I have always dreamed of being a CoverGirl,” Kessy tells PEOPLE, adding that when she was asked to be a face of the brand she “thought [she] was being punked.” But the California native is getting very excited about her new gig. “I remembered all the times I stared at the ads in the magazines, and remembered that CoverGirl always writes the names of the models in their ads. I couldn’t believe my name was going to be next to my picture in a magazine. Best feeling ever!”

Kessy and Esparza will promote two new limited-edition products — LashBlast Volume Mascara and Outlast All-Day Lipcolor — through print and TV ads beginning in May.

Courtesy CoverGirl

“I feel that I embody the image of CoverGirl and that anyone can be beautiful, and is deserving of beauty no matter what your personal situation is,” Esparza, a Houston native, tells PEOPLE. “You don’t have to be famous to look good.”

Both women admit to wearing a bit of makeup on the court and in the ring. “I think if you look good you feel good, and if you feel good then you fight good,” Esparza says. And though both have simple makeup routines — some base, blush, mascara and lip color — they’re happy to lend their soon-to-be-famous faces to a beauty brand.

“We are athletes and in turn we are the everyday women,” Kessy says. “CoverGirl is celebrating the fact that beauty and femininity can come in so many forms. To be able to convey this to girls and women is a very good feeling.” Adds Esparza, “I think it will help people see me as a woman and not just a boxer, and also show that CoverGirl recognizes that everyone can symbolize beauty.”